Sometimes the most obvious things in life are the easiest to overlook. This is often also the case with the Bible. Have you ever noticed it begins with man’s food and water and it ends the same way in Revelation. Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible shows us a river of water of life and on this side and on that side of the river is the tree of life. If we miss the matter of eating and drinking in the Bible, we miss a major portion of what God desires to reveal to man.

In a sense the Bible ends the way it began; a flowing river and the tree of life. In fact what man takes in has a lot of implications.

The food that man eats is the focus of the Bible from the first pages of Genesis to the final pages of Revelation. Man’s eating represents what he takes into his being. Manna, the heavenly bread given by the Lord for His people in Exodus is one of the Bible’s meaningful types of our Lord Jesus. A careful consideration of the details and characteristics of manna can open up a great insight and appreciation of Christ.

The last couple of days we’ve been looking at the characteristics or details that are given in Scripture related to manna. Yesterday in particularly we saw 3 items that first it came from heaven, second it came with the dew of the morning and third it came every morning.

What is it to grow spiritually? Well, many think that to grow as a Christian is simply to acquire more Scriptural knowledge through diligent study of the Bible. But genuine spiritual growth as apostle Peter indicates in his first epistle, is to take the word of God not merely as doctrinal knowledge but rather, as food as nourishment. In fact he likens nourishment in the Word to milk, nourishing a growing infant. This picture in 1 Peter confirms the genuine growth in the Christian life is organic and not academic.

We have been regenerated with a divine life of God. And just as new born babe, our first requirement is to take the real nourishing supply so this divine life can grow within us.

The believers in the church in Corinth were confused by a practical issue – whether or not to eat food that had been offered to idols. Well, in giving opportunity to address it, the apostle Paul took the occasion to bring them into a deeper understanding of reality of eating and drinking. Actually eating and drinking are a kind of fellowship. Fellowship really means to participate, to enjoy. Surely we would all admit it is a good description of eating.

But the spiritual point that we need to come away with in this portion of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is that we become one with whatever we eat. The old expression – “you are what you eat”, is true both physically and spiritually.

Forty years of wandering, of fighting against enemies and of learning to live by depending on God are near an end. God’s people Israel are about to enter the land that He has promised to their fathers. By this time Jehovah God had prepared the people and everything they would need to go in and possess this land. But it is here, at this critical juncture that He comes to them to remind them not of their need but of His need. From His people, God requires something that He will not provide for Himself – food. Hard to imagine isn’t it? God needs to be fed. He can only be fed by His people. Quite a story we have before us.